The Penn's Grove record., 1887-03-12
MR.. BEECHER DEAD.
He Expires Surrounded by His Fam
lily, without a Return to Con-
seriousness.
New YORK. March S.

bedside were Colonel H. b. Beecher,
his wife, his daughters Hattie and
Daisy, and son Henry Ward Beecher;
Miss Edith Beecher, w. g. Beecher
and wife, Rev. Samuel Scovllie, Mrs.
5. Scoville, eldest daughter of Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher; Miss S%covllle,
who had just come from the Pacific
slope; Miss Billiard, the Rev. S. b..
Halliday and wife; Bella, the Scotch
nurse, who has been with the family
many years, and was the special favor
tie of the deceased preacher; the male
nurse, Riordon; Deacon ). V. White,
4. A. Seccomb, one of the Trustees of
the Plymouth Church, and Major j. B.
Pond.
DIR. Searle had noticed a change in
the PATIENTS condition at $50 A. NJ,
and summoned all in the house to the
bedside, momentarlly expecting his
death, but he fingered on much longer
than had been anticipated. lie passed
away gradually and almost impercepti-
bly,, drawing his breath without appar-
ent suffering or return to CONSCIOUSNESS
in any degree.
No Grape was hung on the door, Mr..
Beecher having always objected to the
use of this and the gloom associated
with it IL the presence of death. In
stead, a magnificent wreath of flowers
hung from the left do .rway at the top
of the stoop, composed OF white and
red roses and lilies of the valley, and
tied up with white satin.
SKETCH OF THE GREAT PREACHER S
LIFE.
The famous orator, writer and minis
ter, Henry Ward Beecher, whose death
occurred yesterday, was the eighth
child of the Rev. Lyman Beecher, an
almost equally famous preacher. All
the children of Lyman Beecher APP
peared to have inherited the genius Of
their father to a greater or less extent,
and almost all have achieved fame as
writers, orators or teachers. Among
them were especially prominent Catha-
rine Esther Beecher, Mrs. Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Rev. William Henry
Beecher, Rev. Edward Baecher, Rev.
Thomas Kinnicut Beecher and Rev.
James Chaplin Beecher.
Henry Ward Beecher was born in
Lltcbfeld, Conn, June oath, 1918 His
mother died when he was three years of
age, and his fathers second wife was a
woman Of very austere demeaffor. His
early years were parsed without tie
usual pleasures of childhood, but accus-
toned him to outdoor exercise, and
undoubtedly gaves,him that rugged
health that he reta ned through life.
He was sent to school III Bethlehem.
,aI 70 bue cfCfnr ElfLaTInnfg GphFnt nm.
Til his father removed to Boston, when,
at the age of twelve, he entered the
BCs.on Latin School. Here lie imbibed
the desire to travel, aud announced to
his brother his intention of runnlng
away to sea. His father apparently
acquiesed in his design of gong to sea,
but persuaded him 10 so to Mount
Pleasant, in Auburn, to pursue prep
aratory studies, foreseeing the way In
which his studies would turn his
thoughts. In this he was correct.
Henry Ward Beecher became "a MEM
Der of church during his first year at
college, and hencetorth devoted his
life to the ministry. He graduated at
Amherst College in 1884, and imme.
diately entered Lane Theological Semi
nary, Cincinnati, of which institution
his father was then President.
In 1886 Mr.. Beecher FIRST appeared
in public as a writer. During the aD-
sence of the editor of the Clncinatti
journal he managed that paper and
wrote several strong anti-slayery pa
pers. He graduated in theology in
1887, and accepted an offer 10 become
pastor of a church at LawrencebuTg,
Indiana. Here he married Eunice
White Billiard, afterwards well known
as a writer of domestic books. He re-
NAMED at Lawrenceburg two Years,
and then removed to indianapolis to
become the pastor of the Presbyterian
Church of that city, then a rapidly
growing town OF $500 inhabitants,
Here his power as a pulpit orator was
fully recognized, and in his eight years
of service he built up the church to be
one of the strongest In the State, and he
himself became recognized as n OF
the most powerful preachers in thu
church.
In 1S46 Plymouth Congregational
Church was founded IN Brooklyn. Mr..
Beecher was in New York and was in
yited to hold the first services in the
new church. This he did in the pres.
ence Of an immense congregation and
was almost Immediately requested to
become pastor. He has occupied that
position ever since, and has built up
Plymouth Church In a manner almost
unprecedented in the history Of
churches in this country. He intro
duced the custom of preaching on cur
rent and political topics, and the anti
slavery cause he advocated both with
voice and pen, in the pulpit, on the
political stump and by essays IN the
newspapers. From 1854 10 the break
ing out of the wal of the Rebellion he
was one of the foremost advo Gates of
the abolition movement. On the D.. eak-
ing out of the war a regiment was en-
listed from his church, and his eldest
ION was one of the officers. He became
one of the editors of the New YORK m
dependent, and in that journal strenu-
ously urged the preservation OF the
Union.
HIS health falling In 1862, he was
forced to visit Europe to recuperate,
and while in England attempted to
cOunteract the strong Confederate bias
Il the English people. In this effort he
at first met the most strenuous opposl-
lion, but finally succeeded IN gaining a
hearing without his voice being drowned
by the noise of his opponents. What
is described as his greatest speech was
made in Exeter Hall, London. One
passage In this speech was as follows;
STANDING by my cradle, standing
by my hearth, standing by the altar OF
he church, standing by all the places
that mark the name and memory Of
heroic men who poured their blood and
lives for principle, | declare that in ten
or twenty years of raj We will sacrifice
everything we have for principle. Ii
the love Of popular liberty is dead IN
Great Britain you will not understand
us, but if the love of liberty lives as 1t
once lived, and has worthy successors
IF those renowned men that were our
,ne, stors as much as youTs, and whose
example and principles We inherit 10
cake fruitful, as so much seed corn IN
a new and fer, lie land, then VOW VIII
understand our firm invinciole deter
mination-deep as the sea, hrm as the